I have just begun to train powerlifting and have chosen the Wolverine State Championships for my first meet. I am aiming to compete at 242 in the raw open division. My goal for my first meet is to have an elite total, which I believe is 1607. I have been a " bodybuilder " for years and competed in the natural Michigan in 2005 ish as a middleweight. But I partially tore my bicep last year and I have shitty calves so I decided looking good in my skivvies is no longer my goal. Also I have always trained like Dorian so lifting heavy stuff has always been in my regime.
I stopped lifting after the tear so I’m still getting back into lifting heavy.
So, my new program is 3/5/1 with Westside thrown in.looks like this kinda.
Monday:
ME squat 5/3/1 style
DE dead doubles mostly
1 Assistance exercise
Tuesday:
ME bench 5/3/1 style
Assistance exercise x2
Thursday:
ME dead 5/3/1 style
DE squat doubles
1 Assistance
Friday:
OHP
DE bench
1 Assistance
So as of right now my gym lifts are: 500/365/545 but I have doubled 405 less than a year ago and both the 500 and 545 were sub maximal. My squats hit depth as I train in a gym with an ex IPF guy who judges my squats.
I’m guessing right now my true 1rm for squat is 525-550 and dead is 600-625 from the way they have felt recently but who knows.
I am currently on 5’s week of 3/5/1 so it’s a deload for me. I’m taking it easy as I push relatively hard on my 3 and 1 weeks, so it’s core lifts only and accessories no DE work
Today was bench day so I threw in a new exercise. I started with pin presses with the pins set just at chest level when in my arch, as my weakest point is off my chest.
3x5
225
275
295- It got difficult here but really helped me stay tight at the bottom.
Then I moved onto some light incline barbell presses
1x8@135
1x8@185
1x6@225
Then some cross body hammer curls with 20’s for elbow health.
Band pull aparts with the red bands
Band press downs with the same
5x20ish
I just started using bands in training and am enjoying it.
I have to begin training biceps as they are getting sore on bench day. I backed way off training them with the partial tear probably too much.
Warmed up then hit my programmed squats
315x5
365x3
405x1
Then worked up with heavy singles
455
495
545
I bought a economy lever 10mm belt from liftinglarge.com I could really feel the difference in tightness on my heavier sets. Also the 545 is a new PR for me, it was heavy but I feel like I was far from my “max”. The more I handle the heavier weights the easier it seems to be.
Then I moved on to a few sets of hip raises with a 135 lb BB on my pelvis area. Could really feel it in my glutes.
Skipped out on ghr as I was hungry. Overall a good day and I hit my goal for this 4 week cycle.
Well my bench day fuckin sucked. My elbows were just as bad as they were before.
So I’m going to take a break from lifting heavy on my bench for a month and focus on my form, pulling the bar to my chest/belly, and strengthening my arms. Hopefully this will help straighten me out. So I’m going back to a modified Dorian style hit on these.
If anyone has any tips on biceps tendinitis cures let me know please. I think that is what’s wrong with me as my biceps hurt while lowering the bar. But after a set my elbows just kill.
DL
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x3(switch to mixed grip)
495x1
545x1 wasn’t the easiest I’ve ever pulled 545 but far from hard
600x0 would have been a lifetime pr which would have been two for the week(might have something to do with it). I got it 5-6" off the floor and then came out of my groove.
In retrospect my ritual was off as I didn’t wear my chucks or have my belt and I shouldn’t have made a 55lb jump on my last set. I PRed squatting this week and am having issues with my elbows. But it is still a failure when it shouldn’t have been so I’m pissed.
Warmups bar, 135
185x5
225x5
275x5
All were easy and I took them to the basement. My right sartorious(sp?) insertion was tight so it’s good I went light.
So next I did light band deadlifts, as after last weeks miss at 600 I took a lot of the weekends reading to learn why I missed. I watched the video of the lift many times and I popped out of my groove because I didn’t “pull the slack” before I initiated the lift. Well upon figuring this out I watched some videos and read some articles and found out I’ve been deadlifting with a few problems in my technique. First off I have never pulled the slack nor pulled myself into the bar. Second, when the bar reaches my knees I don’t force my hips forward, I pull the bar with all back. Similar to a wrestlers arch during a suplex(I was a wrestler). So I’m changing my deadlift technique.
I practiced my DL in the proper manner with bands and 135 focusing on driving my hips forward when the bar is at my knees and not hyper extending my back at the top. I did a bunch of sets and reps, just to hopefully burn the change into my muscle. In doing this I shortened my rom and sped the lift up. These are very good signs in my book.
Easy day working on my form and trying to rest my elbows.
Worked up to 205x5 really trying to pull the bar apart and stay tight, it was very difficult but the weight was light as hell if that makes any sense.
Then I did some chaos pushups. If you don’t know what these are google it, they’re fun and really help you to stay tight.
Probably 4-6x10 of bodywieght.
Worked some pull downs next wide grip.
Did probably six sets working up to a full stack for 7-8 reps
Then chest supported t bar rows. Wide grip
1 platex10
2 platesx10
3 platesx10
Deloading still so really worked on driving my hips forward to finish my lift instead of pulling with my back.
Worked up to 295 and did a few sets there. Could really feel my glutes firing and subsequently burning/feeling worked.
Then went on to single leg glute bridges bw 3x10 each leg focusing on stretch and contraction. This was more to hopefully speed up the connection in my mind between deadlifts and glute activation.
Decided since I skipped ohp last week I would work my 1 week this week. Also I’ve been really lazy on doing my ohp I really only get to it every other week or so. But I’ve been getting good gains on it nonetheless.
Anyways
Bar x5
95 x5
135x3
185x3
225x1 easy
250xmissx2 could get it over my head but couldn’t get through the transition from shoulders to triceps. This would have been a bodyweight strict ohp.
Tried incline press which worked out well until I got to my 3rd set then my elbows acted up. So I’ve decided to essentially stop benching for a month or so and see where that leaves me.
I then hit some accesories, which I will keep goin on as my elbows don’t hurt doing them.
So since I’m cycling my weeks of 3/5/1 I’m kinda screwed up this week.
But thurs is DL day so did some speed pulls
Worked up to 315 then experimented with different band setups, which turned into me just dicking off for a little bit.
Then there’s this younger gentleman that has workout ADHD. Good kid, but has a lot to learn IMHO. So anyway, he’s doing some crazy meadows row that he saw a member here doing. Well I started working in then it turned into barbell v bar rows(Ronnie Coleman rows?)
Well we worked up to 3-4 plates then to throw salt in the wound I worked up to 7 plates. It had been a long time since I had done those and I had a lot of fun with them. All was in good fun for all parties though.
Got invited to work in with some new guys today. Finally working in bands on my squats. Today was essentially a speed day as until the very last set everything seemed lightish. First time I’ve done box squats since high school lol, but it was fun and different.
Box Squats with doubled Mini and Micro Mini Bands from the bottom of the rack:
135 x 3
135 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 2
365 x 2 (this set was freaking heavy! Seemed like the 50lbs jump felt like 150, but that is the nature of bands?)
Then some ghr
3x5
Then drinking around doing some power cleans, ended up with 225lb clean. Tried 275 but didn’t get a good pull from my upper body . Not bad I guess being as I haven’t ever really done these lol.
Today was supposed to be bench day but as I said earlier I’m taking a break from benching.
Warmed up with some rotator cuff work.
Then three sets of chins x5-8
Then db rows
2x15x90
Face pulls
I don’t remember the weight just worked in with bilski
3x20-8
Then some light pull downs while I waited for the low row
Did standing rows with the rope to my hips, this really hits your low lats
1x12x70
1x12x90
1x12x100
Then some power cleans mostly doubles working on form only 95 and 115 lb
I’m typing this on Wednesday and my traps are super duper sore.
Worked sohp today. It’s my 3 week for this movement and I was in kinda a bad mood so I really moved some weight and quickly.
Sohp
Bar x 6
135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3 (held the weight over my head for awhile on last rep)
250 x 1 no leg drive, nothing just a strict bodywieght ohp. Could probably do 20-25lb more if I had better technique.